Reason number 4,342 why I like you and your writing, Joe. The chicken dance and the hokey pokey are awful and should be stricken from all wedding playlists for all-time.
Okay, you've got me. 4,342 is not the number of hits for Rose, consecutive games for Ripken, Ks for Carlton ... is it the uniform numbers for Eck & Mo?
full disclosure, lol: I wasn't thinking of any particular number or numbers at all, just a random large # of reasons why Joe rocks. I guess looking back I would say it was football related, Polamalu and Lott. Two of the best safeties ever.
I decided in high school to be either a sports announcer or a sports writer. I practiced broadcasting games by watching the Royals on TV and recording my play by play on a tiny reel to reel tape recorder. I interned with Fred White at WIBW in Topeka. I took journalism in high school and was asked to be sports editor of the school yearbook along with writing sports coverage for the school paper. I was serious about my chosen vocation. One day several months later I realized that such a career would require mostly nights and weekends. This didn't appeal with my aspirations for marriage and family life. The sports reporting industry's loss was my gain. My wife and I have been married 51 years. Congrats on 28 years of matrimony to you and Margo who like my wife and I are graduates of Kansas State. Go Cats!
Happy Anniversary, Joe and Margo. Thanks so much for sharing how deeply you care for each other…but would it have killed you to give Margo the Chicken Dance? You gotta roll up brownie points wherever you can ;-)
Congratulations to you both. My wife are looking forward to our 52nd anniversary in July. We did it all without playing the Chicken Dance at our wedding.
According to Wikipedia so it has to be correct, you got in just under the window. Looks like it became the Chicken Dance in 1981. Maybe they played the song at your wedding but without the dance (song was created in the 1950s). You lucky dog. Congratulations to 52!
My now wife and I's first date was actually a little under three years ago in Kansas City. We had went to high school together near KC, and after high school, I moved to the west coast for college and stuck around out there for a decade. Knowing only a couple people in town, I had reached out to her and asked if I could stay with her for the weekend, and if she wouldn't mind going to an event with me, a conversation between you and Mike to celebrate the release of Why We Love Baseball.
That night of nonsense blossomed into an evening on the plaza, grabbing ice cream and reminiscing and just talking about everything, and it eventually led to us getting married a couple of years later.
Thank you so much for all of your great stories over the years and here's to many more anniversaries in the future!
My wife and I celebrated 24 years on Monday. "Celebrated" seems overstating it. We went to a bar around the corner because she likes the sirloin tips there and we don't have Capital Grille money this year. But we were happy about it! Don't take anything less than that away from it. (In our case, it was her who refused to have the Chicken Dance played at our wedding. Also the Macarena. I would not have minded either, but I guess she wanted a classier affair.)
I have also been gone a lot, especially in the last ~20 years as a consulting engineer, but not as much as you, or for as long. I missed my older son's first Halloween during that same World Series, though in my case it was because I was inspecting railcar equipment brackets in Brazil, so I also missed the World Series, or at least the clinching game. I was flying home during Game 6, so I have not seen my Yankees win a World Series since 2000. However, I don't think I have missed a Halloween with the kids since, so that's something.
I'm rarely gone more than a week or two at most, though sometimes when things line up just wrong I might be traveling 7 weeks out of 9 or something like that. Seems like it's been tougher on my wife, and sometimes the kids, than it has been for your family. Maybe because your wife is a sports fan, so she kind of understands? You can't really be a "fan" of engineering or weld inspection, so maybe unwavering support is asking too much in my case. In any case, I'm glad for you and Margo! Here's to 28+ more years together!
29 years for me. I just sent this to my wife and told her it expressed how I feel about her as well. I also told her that now that Frank DeFord and Plimpton are gone, you are my favorite guy writing about the intersection of sports and life.
It will be 32 years for my wife and I this coming Fall. Sports context? Well, I met the person of my dreams when we were both students in Tuscaloosa. We planned on getting married there so we, of course, looked for an off weekend when the Tide wouldn't be taking attention away from the bridal party. But life intervened and we moved the ceremony to Montgomery, a 45-minute ride away from that other school in Alabama. If you are an SEC fan of a certain generation, you'll remember that 9/17/94 was the interception game. LSU was beating Auburn 23-7 in the 4th until not one, not two, but *three* pick sixes lead to win on the plains. And wedding guests continually sneaking off to watch a tiny little TV in a back room.
Let's ban YMCA also.
My Wife and I just passed 27 years, also married in KC, in a much smaller ceremony. She is my best friend as well.
Enjoy another year of true love!
Reason number 4,342 why I like you and your writing, Joe. The chicken dance and the hokey pokey are awful and should be stricken from all wedding playlists for all-time.
Okay, you've got me. 4,342 is not the number of hits for Rose, consecutive games for Ripken, Ks for Carlton ... is it the uniform numbers for Eck & Mo?
full disclosure, lol: I wasn't thinking of any particular number or numbers at all, just a random large # of reasons why Joe rocks. I guess looking back I would say it was football related, Polamalu and Lott. Two of the best safeties ever.
I decided in high school to be either a sports announcer or a sports writer. I practiced broadcasting games by watching the Royals on TV and recording my play by play on a tiny reel to reel tape recorder. I interned with Fred White at WIBW in Topeka. I took journalism in high school and was asked to be sports editor of the school yearbook along with writing sports coverage for the school paper. I was serious about my chosen vocation. One day several months later I realized that such a career would require mostly nights and weekends. This didn't appeal with my aspirations for marriage and family life. The sports reporting industry's loss was my gain. My wife and I have been married 51 years. Congrats on 28 years of matrimony to you and Margo who like my wife and I are graduates of Kansas State. Go Cats!
Happy Anniversary, Joe and Margo. Thanks so much for sharing how deeply you care for each other…but would it have killed you to give Margo the Chicken Dance? You gotta roll up brownie points wherever you can ;-)
Chicken Dances… that’s what Oktoberfests are for. Just don’t get married at an Oktoberfest!
You are so right about the chicken dance. It was not played at our wedding, either. Happy Anniversary.
Congratulations to you both. My wife are looking forward to our 52nd anniversary in July. We did it all without playing the Chicken Dance at our wedding.
According to Wikipedia so it has to be correct, you got in just under the window. Looks like it became the Chicken Dance in 1981. Maybe they played the song at your wedding but without the dance (song was created in the 1950s). You lucky dog. Congratulations to 52!
Happy anniversary Joe and Margo!
My now wife and I's first date was actually a little under three years ago in Kansas City. We had went to high school together near KC, and after high school, I moved to the west coast for college and stuck around out there for a decade. Knowing only a couple people in town, I had reached out to her and asked if I could stay with her for the weekend, and if she wouldn't mind going to an event with me, a conversation between you and Mike to celebrate the release of Why We Love Baseball.
That night of nonsense blossomed into an evening on the plaza, grabbing ice cream and reminiscing and just talking about everything, and it eventually led to us getting married a couple of years later.
Thank you so much for all of your great stories over the years and here's to many more anniversaries in the future!
I was there that night. I find it really fun that someone was there on a date that turned into marriage.
Joe & Mike as matchmakers! Love it.
Happy anniversary, and for the occasion, SHE can do the chicken dance.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-fc-5918_1&hsimp=yhs-5918_1&hspart=fc¶m1=7¶m2=eJwtj8tqwzAURH9FywQk5V5ZL0erpsEfULqq0MJ1FEf4ie3g0q8vCmU2A3MGZtp08y58XBFASVN4GkbvAkppS%2BtpyCGgKIT2NDTehbIsPQ1p9i5IwyVylJLLjLZx8i48V0%2FDs%2FYuDNNv6vv6pDiQw57G27SvZNwIAgdH9jRq6ciPlkdSz3Mf9%2Fjdpe2kCsMLTQ7dYxt6SvrURdLGppuOpHks0xBPKC2HLLLW93pJ%2F5W8an2dyQPWuLw8KNCVNcCqi1AMsQJ2KQwyVSlhr9Wb0fY9802GBQjNAJkwnyDOYM%2BgucLy6w%2Fqb1Mz&p=flintstones+happy+anniversary+song&type=fc_A2EFA035EF5_s69_g_e_d012326_n144898_c999#id=3&vid=ca0d5eca034c993121816c30a445e2ad&action=click
My wife and I celebrated 24 years on Monday. "Celebrated" seems overstating it. We went to a bar around the corner because she likes the sirloin tips there and we don't have Capital Grille money this year. But we were happy about it! Don't take anything less than that away from it. (In our case, it was her who refused to have the Chicken Dance played at our wedding. Also the Macarena. I would not have minded either, but I guess she wanted a classier affair.)
I have also been gone a lot, especially in the last ~20 years as a consulting engineer, but not as much as you, or for as long. I missed my older son's first Halloween during that same World Series, though in my case it was because I was inspecting railcar equipment brackets in Brazil, so I also missed the World Series, or at least the clinching game. I was flying home during Game 6, so I have not seen my Yankees win a World Series since 2000. However, I don't think I have missed a Halloween with the kids since, so that's something.
I'm rarely gone more than a week or two at most, though sometimes when things line up just wrong I might be traveling 7 weeks out of 9 or something like that. Seems like it's been tougher on my wife, and sometimes the kids, than it has been for your family. Maybe because your wife is a sports fan, so she kind of understands? You can't really be a "fan" of engineering or weld inspection, so maybe unwavering support is asking too much in my case. In any case, I'm glad for you and Margo! Here's to 28+ more years together!
I'm an engineer too, just had our 26th recently. Text me at 949-702-7036, I have an anniversary present for y'all.
29 years for me. I just sent this to my wife and told her it expressed how I feel about her as well. I also told her that now that Frank DeFord and Plimpton are gone, you are my favorite guy writing about the intersection of sports and life.
It will be 32 years for my wife and I this coming Fall. Sports context? Well, I met the person of my dreams when we were both students in Tuscaloosa. We planned on getting married there so we, of course, looked for an off weekend when the Tide wouldn't be taking attention away from the bridal party. But life intervened and we moved the ceremony to Montgomery, a 45-minute ride away from that other school in Alabama. If you are an SEC fan of a certain generation, you'll remember that 9/17/94 was the interception game. LSU was beating Auburn 23-7 in the 4th until not one, not two, but *three* pick sixes lead to win on the plains. And wedding guests continually sneaking off to watch a tiny little TV in a back room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmhAb3i99mg
Congrats to Margo for putting up with Joe for so long! (grin)